


For Writing Purposes

by DarkBalance



Series: Miraculous Challenge Fills [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alya Césaire Ships It, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Is Not Oblivious, Sort Of, We Are All Alya Césaire, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26655541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkBalance/pseuds/DarkBalance
Summary: Alya's ships refuse to sail, so she has no choice but to send them off on her own.
Relationships: Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Miraculous Challenge Fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927039
Kudos: 46
Collections: Quote Prompt Memes





	For Writing Purposes

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [StarWarsFreak19](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarWarsFreak19/pseuds/StarWarsFreak19) in the [quoteonlyprompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/quoteonlyprompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> “Could you kiss me? I need it for writing purposes.”
> 
> _... Yeah, sorry not sorry._

_Marinette held the plate out like an offering as she moved closer. Chat Noir made to take one of the chocolate pasties, but Marinette, in typical fashion, tripped over her own feet. The pastries, as well as the plate, scattered around her as she fell to her knees. Awkward silence engulfed the pair as they blinked at each other. How…? Marinette never failed to impress Chat with how amazing she was, and that included her talent for tripping over air._

_Before he could stop it, a small snort of laughter escaped his nose. Marinette glanced up, eyes sharp. Chat Noir tried to stop, honestly. But the fierce look on her face was just too adorable and another snort pushed through, followed by a giggle. Soon he was outright laughing and he couldn’t help it. It was when a second, bell-like laugh joined his that he stopped, if only to watch his companion. The small Chinese girl seemed to glow when she smiled, and Chat Noir’s heart pounded against his ribcage. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the most gorgeous thing he had ever laid his eyes on, overtaking even his affection for Ladybug. He reached out a hand to help her up._

_“You should keep doing that,” he told her._

_“Doing what?” Marinette blinked, obviously confused. “Falling on my butt?”_

_“No, not that,” Chat grinned. “Smiling. Laughing. It suits you the most._

_“You say that like you’ve never seen me smile before,” Marinette chided._

_-_-_

Alya hummed in frustration. She crossed out her writing, displeased with where the story was going. The snippet was promising and could maybe be used another time, but wasn’t what she wanted now.

“Everything okay?” Marinette called from across the room. She was seated at her sewing table in their living room, piecing together one of her many projects.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Alya waved off her concern, pen tapping against the desk. “You know how it is.” She took a sip of the warm beverage beside her and attempted writing the scene again.

* * *

_Marinette scratched the back of her ear, an awkward laugh hovering in the air between them. Chat frowned and took a step closer. He tried not to flinch when Marinette stepped back._

_“What… what’s wrong?” he asked. He could feel the way his false ears responded to his mood, flattening against his head._

_“Nothing! I mean, nothing’s… wrong, Chat… Why do you ask? Heeheehee…”_

_“You never behave like this when I visit. Are you sure everything’s okay?”_

_“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be?”_

_-_-_

Alya rolled her eyes and groaned at her writing. This was entering Adrinette territory, and today was _Marichat_ Day, not Adrinette Day. That was on Monday. Adrinette was supposed to be adorable and awkward and teasing in a way that made Alya want to scream, _dear God, just kiss already!_ Marichat should be playful and flirty and teasing with nail-biting anticipation. Why Marichat always wanted to stumble into Adrinette territory was unknown to Alya, but she wished her writing would obey dammit.

“Alya…” Marinette’s voice held a note of warning.

“I won’t throw anything this time, I swear,” she answered. Alya hoped her roommate didn’t notice the way she replaced the candle she had been holding.

“Hmm.”

* * *

_“What did you want from me, Marinette!” Chat Noir growled. “Should I be some pretty boy model to get your attention? Is that what you want?” She had never seen him so mad. The cat-like eyes seemed to glow with his frustration and Marinette’s heart thudded hard in her chest. She was doing that to him, all because she couldn’t get over a boy who would never notice her. “I can’t be something I’m not, Marinette.”_

_“I’m not asking you to be!”_

_“Yeah? Well, it sure doesn’t feel like it.”_

_“You’re one to talk. I’m sorry I never measure up to Miss Perfect Ladybug.”_

_“I have never compared you to Ladybug and you know it!”_

_“Really? The girl I like never did that. The girl I like always says this. The girl I like is so amazing.”_

_“I never said --”_

_“All of Paris knows you’re in love with her, Chat Noir,” Marinette leveled a look at him and he flinched. Marinette knew she was being unfair but he couldn’t help it. Every time he brought up “the girl he likes,” Marinette felt herself deflate a little inside. She knew she wasn’t Ladybug, did he have to remind her all the time?_

_“I am not. In. Love. With. Ladybug!” Chat Noir growled. He gripped Marinette’s shoulders and shook her to emphasize each point. His claws dug into her shoulders uncomfortably, but not quite enough to be painful. “I’ve been in love with you this whole time!”_

_-_-_

Alya wiped a hand over her face. This was good. It was. Alya was actually really proud of this bit, but it wasn’t what she _wanted_. It wasn’t fluff, it wasn’t sweet, it was barely flirty, and most importantly, it wasn’t filling Alya with that giddiness she enjoyed when she was satisfied. This fic felt lackluster and every word was like pulling teeth. She groaned, banging her head against her desk.

“Alya…” Marinette called.

“It’s this prompt!” Alya whined.

“Alya,” Marinette repeated.

“Yeah, but my challenge team is counting on me to write something really fabulous!”

“Alya!”

“I know,” she huffed, dragging herself upright to look at her friend. “It’s not that serious, I’ll calm down.”

“I mean, okay, I’m glad you realized that,” Marinette’s laugh was muffled. She seemed to be collecting pins from the floor beneath her table. “But I was actually trying to tell you your alarm is going off in the kitchen.” Alya blinked, listening for the obnoxious beeping.

“Oh! That’s lunch!”

* * *

One meal, two hours, three hot beverage refills, and four mental breakdowns later, Alya found herself yanking at her hair and lamenting her writing career. It was all over. Out of all of the fan fiction she has posted online, six years worth of material, and this, a five hundred word first kiss ficlet prompt was what did her in. All of the Marichat fluff, all of the Ladynoir sin, all of the Adrinette scenarios, this is what killed her.

“Marinette,” Alya whined, leaning backwards over her chair. “Come kiss me. I need it for writing purposes!”

“What?” The rhythm of the sewing machine stopped.

“What?” Alya sat up, finally realizing he spoke out loud.

“...What are you writing?” There was a note of suspicion in Marinette’s voice.

“Nothing!”

“Nothing?”

“I’m just… writing!” Alya wanted to punch herself. Three years! Alya and Marinette have lived together for three years and she’s never once let it slip that Marinette featured in a quarter of her fics. Sure, she felt a bit like a creeper sometimes, writing fanfiction about her best friend, but _how else_ was she going to get any of her ships to sail without sending them off to sea herself? “That’s all.”

“Writing about….”

“You now, the usual,” Just trying to set up the perfect first kiss scenario for you and Chat Noir in five hundred words or fewer.

“So is this Adrinette day or Marichat day?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, Ladynoir never gives you this much trouble,” she shrugged. “So which one is it?”

“... Huh?”

“Alya,” Marinette rolled her eyes. “Did you really think that the two of us could live together for three years and I wouldn’t find out about your AO3 accounts? All four of them?”

“I don’t have four!”

“Well, I was going to leave out the Renapace sin, and the Miraculous harem shenanigans, and the so-called Diary series, but if you want me to call you out…” she spoke with innocence, but the curve of her lip and the mischief in her eyes told Alya that Marinette knew things.

“If I say nothing, can we pretend like this never happened?”

“That depends,” said Marinette, “Did you still want that kiss?” Alya gulped. It was the eyebrow. It was the single Raised Eyebrow of Challenge.

... And now eye contact. Alya was in trouble.

If someone had told her, back in middle school, that Marinette would grow up into a confident and sometimes domineering woman, Alya would have laughed herself sick. Sweet, adorable, awkward Marinette as a woman who could make grown men cry with a single _look_? Please, the anxiety was too strong in that girl. And yet here she was, twenty-three years old, heart practically beating out a bass line while Marinette smiled in that knowing way of hers. Alya squirmed, mouth working but words silent.

Eventually, Marinette sighed as if in disappointment and turned away. Alya almost sighed in relief.

“Some best friend you are,” Alya muttered to herself. "I might would have liked it."

“I mean, offer’s still on the table." Alya could hear the smirk in her best friend's voice. "if you dare.” Nope. No. Alya was _not_ going to respond to that taunt, she was smarter than that... And maybe skittish, awkward Marinette should be retired? She was an outdated model anyway...

Alya grinned.

* * *

_"What's wrong, Kitty?" Marinette smirked. "Cat got your tongue?"_

_And that was the moment Chat Noir knew... he was in over his head._


End file.
